Rex Revertatur

“The King returns.” Who would have thought otherwise? After all, this is the man who once, after a successful re-election campaign, announced to the Democratic Committee leader that he was “The King of Ramapo.” So when he returned this morning, just a half-day after his supervised field trip to White Plains to be arraigned on 22 federal fraud counts, to a space where he normally doesn’t spend much time, his office at Ramapo Town Hall, who could be surprised? When you have a stadium-size ego you’re probably expected to lack some peripheral vision. What was it that Leona Helmsley used to say: “Proper appearances are for the little people.” Or was that taxes?

However, other responsible observers brought up the question of stepping down. In today’s Journal News Rockland County Executive Ed Day “called on St. Lawrence to step down from two county positions he currently holds, chairman of the Rockland County Sewer District No. 1 and chairman of the Rockland County Solid Waste Authority.”

In the news release quoted by the paper, Day said both positions “require the attention of a public servant whose character and reputation are beyond reproach. Given the accusations of corruption against Supervisor St. Lawrence made in the federal indictment, stepping aside is the only responsible action until the criminal charges against him are resolved.”

St. Lawrence has been charged with securities fraud, and Day pointed out that Solid Waste has $51 million in outstanding bonds and the Sewer District holds $197 million.

“The investors who hold these bonds need to know that the operations upon which their investments rest are in good hands,” Day explained.

Note: the next Town Board meeting will be on April 28 at 10 a.m. The two monthly board meetings have been alternating between 8 p.m and 10 a.m., and curiously, some of the more controversial proposals have been dealt with at the 10 a.m meetings, when most of the citizenry is gainfully employed elsewhere and not available to attend. The bond for the ballpark was passed at a morning meeting.

Three of yesterday’s accused will probably be present, but Samuel Tress, the Town Board member who was recently arrested and arraigned by the District Attorney, has not been attending the meetings. If he shows up this time, the public will be offered the spectacle of four indicted Ramapo public officials all on the same stage.